***Please note this page contains affiliate links and at no extra charge to you I can earn a small fee on any qualifying purchases. Any and all money earned through these goes straight back into the blog***
Happy Sunday Bookish Folk!
I hope your week has been good and filled with bookish goodness. Well, like I said it’s Sunday so that means I am going to give you seven books, one for every day of the week!
This week I am taking on a subject a lot of readers have a strong ass opinion on.
The Prologue…
I personally like a prologue, I have read some killer prologues that have me really excited for the story ahead but I have also seen some that I’m just like..
There are quite a few types of prologues and I don’t think you can hate them all and I don’t think you can love them all. Some are a direct copy of a paragraph you will get to at some point in the book, some are a character introduction or and introduction to the magic and some are – and these are my favourite – a historical event or inciting incident that set the story you are about to read in motion.
What is your favourite or most hated type of prologue?
So, lets see if you agree with my seven books, and whether you feel they show that a prologue can be a good thing.
****
LEGACY OF ASH BY MATTHEW WARD
Matthew Ward gave us such a wonderful prologue in this fantastic first instalment. He sets the tone of the book and give you crucial background information to a brilliant story, this is actually what made me read this book.
Whoever chose which part of the book would feature as the audio sample did the correct thing, they chose this books prologue and it is fantastic. It moved it u my TBR considerably and I for one am glad.
Ruling families — once protectors of justice and democracy — now plot against one another with sharp words and sharper knives. Blinded by ambition, they remain heedless of the threat posed by the invading armies of the Hadari Empire.
Yet as Tressia falls, heroes rise.
Viktor Akadra is the Republic’s champion. A warrior without equal, he hides a secret that would see him burned as a heretic.
Josiri Trelan is Viktor’s sworn enemy. A political prisoner, he dreams of reigniting his mother’s failed rebellion.
And yet Calenne Trelan, Josiri’s sister, seeks only to break free of their tarnished legacy; to escape the expectation and prejudice that haunts the family name.
As war spreads across the Republic, these three must set aside their differences in order to save their home. Yet decades of bad blood are not easily set aside. And victory — if it comes at all — will demand a darker price than any of them could have imagined.
BUY IT: AMAZON.CO.UK | KINDLE EBOOK | AUDIOBOOK | THE BROKEN BINDING (USE CODE SAMBOOKINH FOR 5% OFF)
NAME OF THE WIND BY Patrick Rothfuss
So, I may not have finished this book (and yes I have every intention of finishing it) but I can still appreciate this books prologue. The language used is lovely, and such a delight to read. Though, I will admit I was thankful it wasn’t used in the main body of the book as for me it would have been too much.
The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king form a gripping coming-of-age story unrivaled in recent literature.
A high-action story written with a poet’s hand, The Name of the Wind is a masterpiece that will transport readers into the body and mind of a wizard.
BUY IT: AMAZON.CO.UK | KINDLE EBOOK | AUDIOBOOK | THE BROKEN BINDING (USE CODE SAMBOOKINH FOR 5% OFF)
The Shadow Of What Was Lost BY James Islington
I don’t even care if I am biased because I am currently reading this book, the prologue was sooo good. it was just the right mix of dark and descriptive but leaves you asking questions making you eager to continue the book.
It has been twenty years since the god-like Augurs were overthrown and killed. Now, those who once served them – the Gifted – are spared only because they have accepted the rebellion’s Four Tenets, vastly limiting their own powers.
As a young Gifted, Davian suffers the consequences of a war lost before he was even born. He and his friends are despised beyond their school walls for the magical power they wield: a power that Davian, despite his best efforts, cannot seem to control. Worse, with his final test approaching and the consequences of failure severe, time to overcome his struggles is fast running out.
But when Davian discovers he wields the forbidden power of the Augurs, he unwittingly sets in motion a chain of events that will change his life – and shake the entire world.
BUY IT: AMAZON.CO.UK | KINDLE EBOOK (CURRENTLY £0.99) | AUDIOBOOK
MISTBORN BY BRANDON SANDERSON
I read this book so long ago and of the entire book the only thing I remember is the prologue. I feel like that is a good thing, I remember just being wowed by the world you are shown and this really interesting magic system you are teased with. It is written well and is generally a good and solid prologue.
The lord ruler owns the world.
For a thousand years the ash fell.
For a thousand years, the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years, the Lord Ruler reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Every attempted revolt has failed miserably.
Yet somehow hope survives.
A new kind of uprising is being planned, one that depends on the cunning of a brilliant criminal mastermind and the courage of an unlikely heroine, a Skaa street urchin, who must learn to master Allomancy, the power of a mistborn.
What if the prophesied hero had failed to defeat the Dark Lord? The answer will be found in the Mistborn trilogy, a saga of surprises that begins here.
BUY IT: AMAZON.CO.UK | KINDLE EBOOK | AUDIOBOOK | THE BROKEN BINDING (USE CODE SAMBOOKINH FOR 5% OFF)
THE RAGE OF DRAGONS BY EVAN WINTER
Mmmmm, Evan Winter does it right!
This is such a damn good start to a book, and as are most of my favourites it is an inciting incident, one that set the wheels turning in this world and led to the story you are about to read.
Everyone else is fodder, destined to fight and die in the endless war. Young, gift-less Tau knows all this, but he has a plan of escape. He’s going to get himself injured, get out early, and settle down to marriage, children, and land. Only, he doesn’t get the chance. Those closest to him are brutally murdered, and his grief swiftly turns to anger. Fixated on revenge, Tau dedicates himself to an unthinkable path. He’ll become the greatest swordsman to ever live, a man willing to die a hundred thousand times for the chance to kill the three who betrayed him.
BUY IT: AMAZON.CO.UK | KINDLE EBOOK | AUDIOBOOK | THE BROKEN BINDING (USE CODE SAMBOOKINH FOR 5% OFF)
THE LIES OF Locke Lamora BY SCOTT LYNCH
This is actually another book but remember nothing from, its nothing against the books I just read them that long ago. I plan to reread them but alas finding the time is never easy.
Though, again I remember to mysterious and rather interesting prologue, I mean they are trying to sell a kid soooo…is pretty intriguing.
Only averagely tall, slender, and god-awful with a sword, Locke Lamora is the fabled Thorn, and the greatest weapons at his disposal are his wit and cunning. He steals from the rich – they’re the only ones worth stealing from – but the poor can go steal for themselves. What Locke cons, wheedles and tricks into his possession is strictly for him and his band of fellow con-artists and thieves: the Gentleman Bastards.
Together their domain is the city of Camorr. Built of Elderglass by a race no-one remembers, it’s a city of shifting revels, filthy canals, baroque palaces and crowded cemeteries. Home to Dons, merchants, soldiers, beggars, cripples, and feral children. And to Capa Barsavi, the criminal mastermind who runs the city.
But there are whispers of a challenge to the Capa’s power. A challenge from a man no one has ever seen, a man no blade can touch. The Grey King is coming.
A man would be well advised not to be caught between Capa Barsavi and The Grey King. Even such a master of the sword as the Thorn of Camorr. As for Locke Lamora …
BUY IT: AMAZON.CO.UK | KINDLE EBOOK | AUDIOBOOK |
THE WAKING FIRE BY ANTHONY RYAN
I LOVED this opening, again it is an overall inciting incident that is set a little bit back from when the story takes place. What makes this even better in my opinion is that it is laid out like a report of an officer who was there.
I really enjoyed this prologue, it introduced us to a few characters though not necessarily our main characters and set the tone perfectly for this book and what was to come..
But not many know the truth: that the lines of drakes are weakening. If they fail, war with the neighboring Corvantine Empire will follow swiftly. The Syndicate’s last hope resides in whispers of the existence of another breed of drake, far more powerful than the rest, and the few who have been chosen by fate to seek it.
Claydon Torcreek is a petty thief and an unregistered blood-blessed, who finds himself pressed into service by the protectorate and sent to wild, uncharted territories in search of a creature he believes is little more than legend. Lizanne Lethridge is a formidable spy and assassin, facing gravest danger on an espionage mission deep into the heart of enemy territory. And Corrick Hilemore is the second lieutenant of an ironship, whose pursuit of ruthless brigands leads him to a far greater threat at the edge of the world.
As lives and empires clash and intertwine, as the unknown and the known collide, all three must fight to turn the tide of a coming war, or drown in its wake.
BUY IT: AMAZON.CO.UK | KINDLE EBOOK | AUDIOBOOK
There you have it, seven books that will restore your faith in prologues!
Thanks for reading.
S A M | The Book in Hand
_ The Book in Hand _ 
6 thoughts on “SUNDAYS SEVEN | 7 BOOKS TO RESTORE YOUR FAITH IN PROLOGUES…”